21 A2+ mummies and myths

CHAPTER 1 Meet the Mummies REAL-LIFE MUMMIES ARE DIFFERENT FROM MUMMIES IN THE MOVIES. It is 1895, and archaeologist John Banning is looking for the tomb of Princess Anaka in Egypt. John finds the tomb, but he has hurt his leg, so his father, Stephen, also an archaeologist, is digging in the tomb. Stephen finds an ancient piece of paper. When he reads it, a mummy in the tomb comes to life. The mummy starts killing people, and John must stop it. This happened, but not in real life. It was in a very popular movie called The Mummy, which was made in 1959. Since the 1920s, people have enjoyed books and movies about mummies. But in real life, mummies don't wake up and start killing people. So, what are mummies, really?

Mummies are bodies of dead people and animals that were preserved. Sometimes this happens naturally, because of where the bodies are buried. It usually happens in dry areas where the body does not get wet. It can also happen in very cold places. Dry and cold weather can stop a body from decomposing. People also preserve bodies through artificial mummification. This practice started thousands of years ago in places like Egypt, Peru, and China. People wrapped dead bodies in cloth to keep them dry, which made them mummies. Then they buried the mummies. This way of preserving bodies worked so well that archaeologists can learn a lot about the past by studying mummies.

CHAPTER 2 Tombs and Treasures MANY TREASURES ARE FOUND IN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TOMBS. Many ancient people made mummies, but Egyptian mummies are the best known. One reason is because of the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. Archaeologists found the king's 3,000-year-old mummified body and many amazing treasures in the tomb. The news about this discovery went around the world, and people started calling the mummy "King Tut." Some of the information in the news wasn't true. For example, there was a story that about half of the people who saw the tomb died in the next ten years. It was said that there was writing above King Tut's tomb. The message said that anyone who enters the king's tomb will die. This was called the Curse of King Tut's Tomb. These stories weren't true, but many people believed them. People started to think that very bad things happened to people who found mummies.

Stories about mummies started long before the discovery of King Tut's tomb. For example, Arabs found tombs in Egypt before the discovery of Tut's tomb. They saw paintings on the walls that showed Egyptians coming back to life. Some thought this meant mummies came back to life and hurt people. The first story about a mummy coming to life was written in 1699. But it was the stories about the Curse of King Tut's Tomb that made mummy stories popular around the world. Ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife, but they didn't think mummies came to life and hurt people on Earth. Egyptians preserved bodies because they thought people needed their bodies for new lives after they died. The Egyptians also buried things they thought people needed and wanted in the afterlife, like dishes and jewelry.

Ancient Egyptians took about 70 days to mummify a body. First, they took out the organs except for the heart, because they thought it was the center of thought and feeling. Then the body was put in natron. Natron is like salt, and it dried out the body. Oils were put on the skin to preserve it. Then the bodies were dressed in their best clothing and jewelry and wrapped in cloth. Finally, the bodies were put in coffins and buried in tombs. This cloth is what mummies in the movies still have on their bodies when they come back to life and walk around. It was expensive to pay people to mummify bodies. Things like fine cloth, coffins, and tombs were also expensive. So not everyone was mummified. This was often done for kings, queens, and other important people.

The ancient Egyptians carefully prepared their dead for the afterlife. They did not know that thousands of years later, archaeologists were going to find the tombs and the treasures in them. But now the mummies, their treasures, and the pictures on the walls of the tombs tell us about life in ancient Egypt. So far, archaeologists have found over 60 tombs in the Valley of the Kings. For example, in addition to Tut's tomb, they found the mummy of Akhenaten, King Tut's father, in a tomb named KV 55. Archaeologists believe there are many more tombs with mummies and treasures to find in the Valley of the Kings.